CALUMET — As if cold weather and brisk winds kept the Calumet Copper Kings boys basketball team out of school Monday wasn’t enough, a storm courtesy of the Negaunee Miner’s defense toppled the Kings in a 42-26 loss.

Negaunee’s strong defensive performance held the Kings to just seven points in the first half, including a second-quarter shutout.

“We were kind of able to force them to just kind of be on the perimeter the whole first half,” said Negaunee head coach Dan Waterman. “They were just passing the ball around, and once we got that lead, we weren’t in any pressure to go out and put pressure on the ball because we were sitting pretty good.”

Calumet also credited the Miner defense for their first-half struggles.

“They’re a great defensive team,” said Calumet head coach Frank Bonacorsi. “They were doing a great job of getting into us, and we started to get a little impatient too because of that.”

The Miners were good, but their defense wasn’t the only reason Calumet did not score in the second quarter.

“We weren’t patient enough,” Bonacorsi explained. “We weren’t running our offense correctly at times, and we were forcing ourselves sometimes in those bad situations.”

The game started with the Miners scoring nine unanswered points, and halfway through the opening period, Negaunee had a 9-0 lead. Calumet followed with a run and cut the deficit to four, 9-5. Negaunee extended their lead to seven before the end of the quarter, and they took a 14-7 lead into the second frame.

Eighteen seconds into the second quarter, Negaunee’s Senior guard Gerald Johnson hurt his shoulder and did not return to the game.

“Unfortunately (the shoulder) is a problem that’s not going to get fixed anytime soon,” said Waterman. “He’s missed three or three and a half games.”

Johnson had nine points in the first quarter.

“He’s a really good player, and you know the crazy thing is, we miss his leadership as much as his scoring,” Waterman said.

The second quarter was all Negaunee. They outscored Calumet 10-0 and took a commanding 24-7 advantage into the second half.

After the break, the Kings made a push, scoring the first six points of the second half, cutting the Miner lead to 24-13. Over the final four minutes of the third quarter, the Miners outscored the Kings 11-4 to take a 35-17 lead into the final frame.

Each team scored just one basket by the halfway point of the fourth quarter, and the score was 37-20 with four minutes to go in the game. The teams traded baskets in the final minutes, and the Miners took home a 42-26 road victory.

Senior Kip Kangas led the way for the Kings with 11 points, and Senior Dryden Nelson had nine.

Junior Gavin Jacobson had 12 points for the Miners, Gerald Johnson added nine, and Brody Bell scored six.

Calumet’s next game will be in West Iron County at 7:15 p.m. Friday. Negaunee will host Ishpeming at 6 p.m. Friday.

ALSO: A moment of silence was observed at the start of the game to honor the passing of Daniel “Dudza” Junttila. Dan officiated elementary, middle school, and high school basketball around the area for 40 years.